Citizen of Russia Yuri Korepanov allowed leaving Uzbekistan

Sentenced in Uzbekistan for treason to 16 years in jail a citizen of Russia Yuri Korepanov returned to Yekaterinburg. He served 10 months of his sentence under these absurd charges. Now he is restoring his health.

29 August 2011 Yuri Korepanov left Uzbekistan. 11 January 2011 Military Tribunal of Uzbekistan sentenced him to 16 years of imprisonment.

30 October 2010 Korepanov was detained by border service of Uzbekistan at the station Keles at the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border. After that he was sentenced to 1 year of imprisonment under Article 223 of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan (“Unlawful exit or entry to the Republic of Uzbekistan”) and to 15 years of imprisonment under Article 157 of the Criminal Code of RU for “treason to the State in favour the Russian Federation”.

Yuri Korepanov was born on 20 March 1947 in the village of Pokrovskoye Alapaev district of Sverdlovskaya Province.

In 1967 he graduated with honours the Tashkent Higher Tank School. He started his career as a commander of a cadet platoon and finished as a commander of a battalion and a teacher of the military higher school in Tashkent. He graduated from the Military Academy of the Armoured Troops named after the Marshal of the Soviet Union R.Ya. Malinovsky. After that he was seconded to Tashkent as a teacher аt the military chair of the Institute of Irrigation and mechanisation of agriculture of Uzbekistan.

In 2002 he completed military service in the rank of a colonel and in the position of a head of the military chair of that Institute. He is a pensioner of the Ministry of Defence of Russia. He was awarded with numerous orders and medals of the Ministry of Defence of the USSR and Ministry of Defence of Uzbekistan.

Retired Col. Yuri Korepanov received permission to leave Uzbekistan during the UN Human Rights session whose agenda included his case.

We wrote about this case before:

Press-release “Uzbekistan: citizen of Russia Yuri Korepanov released from custody, but cannot leave Uzbekistan » of 25.08.2011 http://nadejda-atayeva.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post_25.html 

            Press release “Uzbekistan: Incarceration of the 63-year old Yuri Korepanov leads to his heart attack» of 1.03.2011 http://nadejda-atayeva.blogspot.com/2011/03/63.html 

            Press Release “The Absurd Verdict: Uzbekistan has convicted Yuri Korepanov, a Russian citizen, for “betraying his Uzbek motherland” of 24.02.2011. http://nadejda-atayeva.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_1279.html

 

Uzbekistan: citizen of Uzbekistan deported from Norway has been released from custody

11 November 2011, at 6 am in the Tashkent airport a citizen of Uzbekistan Zarifa Yusupova deported from Norway was detained. It became known to us that she was released from custody although her laptop computer has not been returned to her. The situation of Yusupova is still a matter of concern.

8 November 2011 at 7 am Norwegian time in the suburb of Oslo police arrested a citizen of Uzbekistan Zarifa Yusupova. A ground for arrest was the decision of Norway adopted in September 2010on the deportation of her family. Her two young children were with her. Her husband Muzafar Tafarov was out of town therefore he is still in Norway.

10 November 2011 Zarifa Yusupova and her children were deported to Uzbekistan. She was detained upon arrival in the Tashkent airport. It is not clear for how long she had been held in custody. On 20 November we learned from a reliable source that she was released. The confiscated computer was not returned to her. She is avoiding any communication.

Since 2009 Yusupova has been persecuted in Uzbekistan for religious convictions therefore she asked for international protection.

Norwegian human rights defenders took a proactive stance in this case. They did all they could for Norway to reverse its decision on the deportation of Yusupova’s husband Muzafar Tafarov.

Information on the deported members of this family is not easily accessible. According to our Uzbekistani colleagues there is a 24/7 surveillance of her house for the past several days. The owner of the car stationed near the house is suspiciously interested in Zarifa Yusupova.

Article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment prohibits deportation of persons to countries where they fall under the threat torture or other unacceptable forms of treatment.

Deportation of Zarifa Yusupova and her young children once again proves that forcible deportation of people to Uzbekistan is unacceptable due to the systemic practice of torture in that country.

According to the information of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia over the recent period of time eight persons were deported from the European Union to Uzbekistan. Three of them were subjected to criminal prosecution upon false charges; five of them are not able to obtain permission to leave the country.

Uzbekistan: why inmate is denied meeting with his wife?

Convicted citizen of Kazakhstan Kuanysh Nurenov is serving his sentence in Uzbekistan. He was put in a punishment isolator and tortured. Intervention of the Kazakh diplomats did not help. For the past several months Nurenov’s wife is being unable to obtain permission to seeing him. For several months his relatives do not know about his real location.

Nurenov Kuanysh Ordabaevich, DOB 25.10.1985, citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2006 he was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment under Articles 159 ("Encroachment on constitutional order of the Republic of Uzbekistan"), 244-1 ("Production or dissemination of materials containing threat to public security and public order") of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. We know from reliable sources that before September 2011 h served his sentence in colony 64/71 in the settlement Jaslyk (Republic of Karakalpakstan in Uzbekistan).

In August 2006 upon the invitation of his friend Kuanysh Nurenov was visiting Karakalpakstan and was arrested there. He was charged with heavy crimes. He was tortured during pre-trial detention. The participation of a lawyer as well the subsequent judicial proceedings were formality void of substance. To serve his sentence he was sent to Jaslyk where the inmates jailed under Article 159 are subjected to systematic torture. From the letter of his wife Lyazzat Salimova: “…He was beaten up time and again without reason till he would lose his consciousness; there is a deep scar on his head left from heavy beating. His camera mate could not stand such torture and committed a suicide. My husband has changed; he is very thin and is often sick”.

Complaints of inmates against torture in the colony “Jaslyk” often come from their relatives. In January 2011 the prosecutor’s office in Kungrad city conducted an inspection in that colony. The inmates were interviewed in the presence of the administration that impeded any critical communication. On 10 April 2011 there was a repeated inspection and that day Kuanysh Nurenov just like other inmates of the colony was forced to sign a statement prepared in advance: “I am fine, I am well fed, I am not beaten, I am in good health”. First he resisted signing the lie, but then they started beating him with a club on his soles and with barbed wire on his back.

“I fear for my husband’s life, the father of my son!” writes Lyazzat Salimova to the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia. She heard about Kuanysh’s suffering from his mother who is currently very ill and is unable to visit her son.

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan does not have an agreement on the prisoner transfer. However, prisoner Nurenov’s wife keeps knocking on the doors of the embassies of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan addressing the prosecutor’s office in Kazakhstan. Lyazzat speaks with much appreciation about the Kazakh diplomats. Consul went to Jaslyk with her several times. He saw how this fragile woman carries food to her husband and is trying to help him. Lyazzat believes in his innocence and hopes very much that Kazakhstan would not let down its citizen. “I bought food stuff for my husband for the last money I had. For several days I have been waiting for permission to see him, but the head of the colony does not recognize the marriage certificate issued by the Embassy of Kazakhstan in Uzbekistan. Everybody here is pushing me back and humiliating me. The food stuff that I brought for my husband is going off”, she said with tears on the phone on 11 November 2011.  This time she decided not to leave for Kazakhstan unless she sees her husband.

Kuanysh Nurenov and Lyazzat Salimova have a son, Elnur, who is almost five years old. He has not seen his father as his mother was pregnant with him when his father was jailed. The child has not gone to school yet, but he can write.   He sent a letter to our Organizations and asked us to give this letter to his father: “Daddy, I love you. I miss you. I am waiting for you. Elnur.” His mother   has not been able to see her husband for 5 years. She has been in common marriage before September 2011. However, after their marriage was registered, the head of the “Jaslyk” colony Berdyev ignored the marriage certificate against all logic. It looks like he has been impeding the meeting of spouses. But why has he? Was Kuanysh in such a deplorable condition that it would be better not to show him to the outer world or was it a way for the head of the colony to show his authority?

It is necessary to immediately ensure:

-  humane treatment of the inmate Kuanysh Nurenov and stop mental and emotional abuse of his family;

-    his right to see his close ones;

-  the access to him for the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Association for Human Rights in Central Asia calls on all the interested parties, organizations and mass media to turn their attention to the case of Kuanysh Nurenov and forward the relevant addresses to the leadership of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the following addresses:

• President of Uzbekistan, Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov, ul. Uzbekistanskaya 43, Rezidentsia prezidenta, 700163 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 139 53 25, E-mail: presidents_office@press-service.uz;

• Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vladimir Norov, Ministerstvo inostrannykh del RU, pl. Mustakillik 5; 700029 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 139 15 17,E-mail: rnews@mfa.uz; 

• Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Sayora Rashidova, ul. Xalqlar Dostligi 1, 700035 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 139 85 55, E-mail: office@ombudsman.gov.uz;

• General Prosecutor of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Rashidjon Hamidovich Kodirov, ul. Gulyamova 66, 700047 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 133 39 17, E-mail: prokuratura@lawyer;

• National Centre for Human Rights, Senator Akmal Saidov Natsionalny, Tsentr po pravam cheloveka, Mustakillik Maidoni 5/3, 700029 Tashkent, Republic of Uzbekistan, Fax: +998 71 139 13 56 / 45 16, E-mail: office@nchr.uz;

• Ambassador of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations in Geneva, PO Box 1853, 1215 Geneva 15, Switzerland, Fax: +4122 799 43 02, E-mail: uzbekistan@bluewin.ch 

Reprisals against Human Rights Defenders are Worsening across Eastern Europe and Central Asia

- This was the expert conclusion of the programme “Human Rights Defenders’ Rights Observatory”, (a joint Programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT)). In a new 6-minute documentary human rights defenders from different countries talk about hard conditions, under which they are compelled to carry out their activity and disseminate information about human rights violations.

All participants of the documentary have met at the OSCE Conference “On Human Dimension” in autumn 2011. At the conference an action was launched in support of Ales Belyatski, Vice-President of FIDH and the Head of the Belarus Human Rights Centre “Vyasna” (Spring) unlawfully detained in conjunction with his human rights activity.

Currently a criminal trial is being held against him in Minsk. He faces jail. Solidarity and commitment to the principles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights unites human rights defenders of different countries and they call for the liberation of their colleague.

Every so often human rights defenders face discrimination and reprisals. Authorities of many countries infringe the freedom of assembly and freedom of association, impede registration and funding of the NGOs, declare the unregistered non-governmental organizations’ activity illegal, subject the human right defenders to arbitrary arrests and detention and persecute them through courts.

We offer to your attention a documentary film, which tells about reprisals against human rights defenders.

RUSSIAN: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm74ml_obs-eastern-europe-and-central-asia-human-rights-defenders-under-pressure-russian_news

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ENGLISH: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlzzbo_obs-eastern-europe-and-central-asia-human-rights-defenders-under-pressure-english_news

SPANISH: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm1kb2_obs-europa-del-este-y-asia-central-defensores-de-derechos-humanos-bajo-presion-spanish_news

FRENCH: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xm6pi2_obs-europe-de-l-est-et-asie-centrale-defenseurs-des-droits-de-l-homme-sous-pression-french_news

Kazakhstan: workers of the video portal "Stan.Kz" sustained gunshot wounds

On October 26, 2011, Asan Amilov, a cameraman, and Orken Bisen, a journalist from the “Stan.kz” were subject to armed attack in Aktau, the Mangistau District. The bullet-wounded victims were admitted to hospital. A criminal investigation was initiated in connection with the incident.

The "Stan.kz" Information Video Portal  started its activity on March 1, 2007. A wide network of correspondents in Central Asia ensured the provision of quick and reliable information about life in Kazakhstan and its neighboring countries. Comments made by  opponents of the regime soon made this web newspaper well-known among local residents.

An attack on the "Stan.kz" journalists. At noon, on October 26, 2011, Orken Bisen, a journalist and Asan Amilov, a cameraman  were leaving  building 40 of the 2nd Microdistrict in the city of Aktau when suddenly, from the yard  where their car ( a taxi) was parked, four unknown men approached  them. They were armed with baseball bats with which they began to strike the journalists about their bodies. One of the attackers produced a firearm, presumably a non-lethal weapon. He shot Orken Bisen, the journalist, in his back and Asan Amilov, the cameraman, in his leg. Zharas Ongarbaev, the taxi driver who accompanied the journalists, also suffered heavy injuries after being kicked by the assailants.

The injured journalists are currently undergoing treatment in the trauma ward of the city hospital No.12 in the city of Almaty. Amilov, the cameraman, was admitted there with a bullet wound to his leg, massive blood loss and closed head injury. Additionally, his left arm is immobilized and he has sustained multiple bruising all over his body. He is still in the hospital. Orken Bisen, the journalist, has been released from the hospital and is continuing his treatment in the outpatient clinic.

Many facts indicate that the “Stan.kz» journalists were the victims of a contract assault. The perpetrators took the journalists' laptop which contained video footage relating to the strike of oil workers for the journalists’ next broadcast. They also attempted to damage their video camera.

A criminal investigation was initiated in connection with the incident under Article 179, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on “Robbery with violence” Criminal investigative activities are now conducted under supervision of Diusen Nurzhigitovich Koyshibaev, the head of the Aktau City Department of Internal Affairs.

During the last six months the following employees of the “Stan.kz" were subject to persecutions:

1. Orken Zhoyamergenovich Bisenov, born on July 23, 1982, a journalist of the video portal Stan.kz, has higher education (graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Kazakh National University). He was subject to assault, was shot in his back and received moderate bodily injuries.

2. Asanzhan Mahametovich Amilov , born on February 18, 1967, a cameraman of the video portal Stan.kz, has higher education (graduated from the Almaty State University). He was subject to assault, receieved bullet injury in his leg and heavy bodily injuries.

3. Azamat Sarkhytbaevich Esbergenov, born on June 21, 1989, a journalist of the video portal Stan.kz, has higher education, graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Kazakh National University.   He has been repeatedly subjected to death threats made by the police officers.

4. Sherniyaz  Zhanabekovich Shagatay, born on May 15, 1987, an ex-journalist of the video portal Stan.kz, has higher education; he graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Kazakh National University. He voluntarily resigned from his job after he and his family started to receive death threats and threats of bodily injury from the police officers.

5. Talgat Umirbekov,  born on February 26, 1980, a cameraman of the video "Stan.kz". On September 7, 2011 a worker of the Sanitary and Epidemiological Station inflicted bodily injuries upon him.

The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia and the Public Foundation "Open Dialog" hereby draws the attention of all interested persons, organizations and the mass media to the case of the "Stan.kz" and appeal to the leadership of the Republic of Kazakhstan to ensure all safety measures for independent journalists and to bring to account the law enforcement officers who intimidate mass media workers.

For more detailed information, please contact:
          Nadejda Atayeva, The Association for Human rights in Central Asia n.atayeva@gmail.com

Lyudmyla Kozlovska, the Public Foundation “Open Dialog” lyudmylakozlovska@odfoundation.eu

Another victim of forced child labour in Uzbekistan: 13-year old boy in coma

Bakhodir Pardaev, born in 1998, a 7^th grade school child, School No. 24, Chirakchi district, Kashkadarya province, was run over by a car while returning together with other schoolchildren from cotton fields. Along with other schoolmates, Bakhodir was sent in September 2011 to pick cotton in Usanov Eshdavlat’s farm, MTP “Sokhibkor”, located several kilometres away from the school.

It is a usual and frequent practice in Uzbekistan to mobilize children for work in cotton fields during the Autumn season. Sometimes they are compelled to walk to the fields and back home along the highways taking risk of being hit by the passing vehicles. This accident is not an isolated one in a series of similar traffic accidents associated to the cotton harvest campaign and coercive mobilization of school children every year.

Bakhodir was hit by y "Matiz" with plate numbers 18 P4564 at the 12^th kilometer of the Hirakchi-Karshi  highway. In the wake of the accident neither the driver Bakhtiyor Yakhshiboev not the passenger Jalol Yakhshiboev, the driver's brother and reporter at the Kashkadarya province state TV bothered to visit the boy in hospital, and the journalist did not report on the accident in the local media.

The injured boy was admitted to the reanimation department of the district hospital in the state of coma. He was diagnosed with multiple heavy injuries: a rupture of the spinal cord, a fracture of the right side of the jaw, a broken arm and leg and injury to the right side of the torso.

Pardaev Bakhodir

On 26 September 2011, after long and fruitless efforts, he was transferred to the province hospital in Karshi city. Up to this day Bakhodir Pardaev is held in ward No.9 of the neurosurgery department and remains in coma.

Bakhodir’s mother – Makhbuba Ergasheva – is shedding bitter tears and nobody can comfort her. Doctors informed has immediately informed the internal affairs department of the accident. In spite of that, the investigation has not been launched with the prosecutor’s office having declined the request of the family to institute criminal proceedings. According to the local sources, the journalist of the province TV Jalol Yakhshiboev, who was in the car, enjoys the protection of the province khokim Nuriddin Zainiev. Apparently, the authorities decided to hush up the matter by any possible means. We know for certain that pressure is being exerted on the family of the injured child and the national Security Service officers guard the hospital to prevent any leak of information about the condition of Bakhodyr. They are prohibiting the heartbroken parents to contact human rights defenders and journalists.

The Justice will define the degree of liability for this accident. But in reality the judicial system in Uzbekistan lacks autonomy and follows instructions of the executive power.  Therefore, it is futile to count on justice in this country. The following officials should be held liable for giving orders on forced mobilization of children to pick cotton:

1. Hokim (Head of administration) of the Kashkadarya Province Nuriddin Zainiev.
2. Hokim of the Chirakchi District Kamol Ravshanov.
3. Head of the public education department of Chirakchi hokimiyat (district administration) Azamat Bakhromov.

However, it was most likely not their personal initiative to give instructions to schools on the mobilization of children. They are only the executive agents of the state policy on exploitation of children, the policy approved by Islam Karimov and actively executed by Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev who is personally in charge for the cotton production.

Another official directly responsible for the practice of forced child labour and all related harm done to the children is Temir Shirinov, Minister of Public Education. Schoolchildren are taken away from studies for more than 2 months every cotton harvest and the Minister has done nothing to prevent this violation of law.

Each harvest, the whole country, under the leadership of these persons, is being turned into a single, Stalin-type labour camp, where millions of ordinary citizens and their children are being turned into slaves of the ruling regime.

Government has never been accountable to the people for spending of hundreds of millions of US dollar cotton export revenues. Profits from cotton exports have been so far spent on the satisfaction of the personal ambitions of the upper echelons of power: construction of luxury palaces, entertainment parties and window dressing with the invitation of expensive celebrities. And, finally, the cotton revenues are spent being to strengthen the repressive government machinery, which is an indispensable part of the system of exploitation of child labour by the state.

Not a single soum (Uzbek currency) of these profits is allocated to schools, which procure child labour force for the cotton fields. Authorities would not lift a finger to designate some money for quality treatment of Bakhodir Pardaev whose injuries are life threatening.

The leadership of Uzbekistan does not take the responsibility for numerous of similar accidents and damaging consequences of cotton production. Children are being truly victims of this cruel state order...

We call upon representatives of the European Union and the Members of the European Parliament to take into account this and similar cases when finalising its decision on the Textile protocol which is part of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. If this protocol is endorsed, textile and cotton from Uzbekistan will obtain tax and tariff preferences in Europe. That would encourage the Uzbek ruling regime to continue its policy of exploiting school children. None of these benefits would trickle down to the schools and children in Uzbekistan.

 

Slaves for the fall season:

In the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan alone, the authorities are planning to send 170,000 schoolchildren to the cotton harvest – and there is documentary evidence

Every year during the cotton harvest season, the Uzbek authorities turn a significant part of the population – students, schoolchildren, civil servants, workers, even housewives and pregnant women -- into slaves. They have various means of coercing the population into this employ, but there is a special role played by the prosecutor office and the police.

In the middle of September 2011, we received a copy of a document which demonstrates the wide-scale involvement of the state apparatus in the coercion and repression used to conduct the cotton campaign. This is a press-release prepared by the Interior Ministry of Khorezm region (full text and translation is in the appendix). This kind of press release is distributed among the local mass media and participants of the staff meetings which take place nearly every evening at the provincial and district authorities over the course of the cotton harvest season.

The document clearly mentions the centralized mobilization of students and children to pick cotton:

«In order to have a quality harvest, in the 2011 harvest, we will have a short time frame to mobilize cotton - pickers, a total of 202,641 people, including 34,800 students from colleges, and high schools. 463 temporary residencies (302 field barracks – shipona), 109 houses of citizens, 52 tents, etc., have been prepared for their accommodation».

What does this figure of 202,641 people mean? If there are 34,800 college students, then it turns out that the remaining 167,841 are mostly schoolchildren. Taking into account that the population of Khoresm constitutes 6% of all 13 cotton cultivating regions of Uzbekistan, one can extrapolate with sufficient certainty, the number of schoolchildren mobilized to pick cotton each in the entire country.  This number, according to our calculations, is 2,797,350 persons, or at the very least, two and a half million children.

The subjects of this forced labor are not only schoolchildren and students, but the farmers themselves. Criminal proceedings are brought against those who plant anything other than cotton in their fields, such as more profitable crops, or those who allow livestock to graze in their fields. Two typical details from the press release of the Ministry of Internal Affairs:

1)      «As a result of measures taken by law enforcement bodies, we have identified 230 cases of rice cultivation without permission, and among them 222 cases at farms and 8 cases of partial allotments, a total of 941 hectares.. According to these facts, materials were prepared and brought to the courts to take action in accordance with the law».

2)      «…June 2, 2011 in the village Boshkirshik, Yangibazar district, in the cotton field at the “Istikbol” farm, owned by Atadjanov Saparboy (date of birth: 09/30/1956), one cow trampled down 293 cotton bushes on a 95.4 square kilometer area». For information, the cow belonged to the same farmer. For this «offence» his cow was confiscated, slaughtered, and the meat was passed on to other agencies

This document demonstrates that: the Government of Uzbekistan does not intend to change anything in the command economy taking root in the cotton industry, with its usual practice of mass forced labor sent to pick cotton each autumn. The ratification by the government of Uzbekistan of the International Labor Organization Conventions 138 and 182 on child labor, and the adoption of several laws to protect children’s rights, seems to be designed just to mislead the international community, without any intention to implement in practice.

It is not surprising therefore that the Government of Uzbekistan does not allow an ILO mission to visit the country during the cotton harvesting season to conduct an independent observation.

In our view, the only way to persuade the Uzbek government to stop the Stalinesque practice of forced labor – is to conduct a boycott of its cotton and textiles.

We call upon the European Parliament not to approve the protocol on preferential export for Uzbek textiles to Europe and to annul the Generalized System of Preferences for Uzbek cotton and textiles.